Charlotte Bunch once said, “Sexual, racial, gender violence and other forms of discrimination and violence in a culture cannot be eliminated without changing culture.” This quote shows that children grow up with their family members not liking a certain race or the way other people are raised and that leads to the children growing up discriminating others, and sometimes the children change as they grow up. In the novel Of Mice and Men , John Steinbeck tells the story of two men who travel together during the great depression. Steinbeck explores the major theme of the loss of hope that can be caused by discrimination. Steinbeck used Curley’s wife and Crooks to show that discrimination leaves people without power or hope.
In the novel Of Mice and Men, Curley’s wife was one of the characters that’s discriminated against because she was a female, woman in the 19’ hundreds were usually kept as housewives, she didn’t get enough attention from her husband, so she tried to get the attention of other men. Those man labeled her “tramp” and they didn’t respect her or treat her like a lady. Unfortunately she lost her life in a very brutal accident with Lennie, after she passed away Candy said something rude about her because she ruined his dream of having his own ranch with George and Lennie. The anger Candy had became words, “you god damn tramp, you done it, di’n’t you? I s’pose you’re glad. Ever’body knowed you’d mess things up. You wasn’t no good. You ain’t no good now, you lousy tart”(Steinbeck 95).
The quote proves that she lost her power, the men didn’t respect her. They thought she was just any other female. She might not be the boss, but she deserves respect like anyone else. It wasn’t just Candy that discriminated Curley’s Wife it was all the men. George told Lennie that she was no good, “Don’t you even take a look at that bitch. I don’t care what she says and what she does.
I seen ‘em poison before, but i never seen no piece of jail bait worse than her. You leave her be”(Steinbeck 32). The quote shows that George not knowing Curley’s wife as who she is, not knowing her story. He miss judging her as somethings she’s not, only because the men told him that she was like that. The only reason Curley’s Wife was acting that way is because she’s not getting enough attention for the man that she married, and she’s was not happy with her marriage with Curley. But none of the man knew that she was unhappy and that she didn’t receive enough attention from her husband, so they assumed that she desperate. She was stuck in a hopeless and loveless relationship.
Additionally, Someone else that was equally affected by the discrimination on the farm was Crooks the stable buck. Crooks was a black man that had back problems, he lived in the barn, he kept everything to himself, but he enjoyed company. Crooks was discriminated because he was a black man living in the 1930 when racism was very popular in the US, he was working for a white family with white coworkers.
When Crooks was defending Lennie from Curley’s wife, she said something that was very offensive. “Well, you keep your place then, nigger. I could get you strung up on a tree so easy it ain’t even funny”(Steinbeck 81). The quote is evidence that crooks was discriminated because of his race, when Curley’s wife called him a very offensive name. The way crooks reacted after Curley’s wife said that to him shows that he lost hope, in that he’ll be able to have a word in any type of argue meant. The house was full of white workers who Could’ve do anything, without being discriminated or told something because of their color.
Crooks knew he was discriminated against because of his color. “Cause im black. They play cards in there but i can’t play because i’m black”(steinbeck 68). Crooks being a black man in the 1930 is obviously going to be discriminated because of his color. Crooks mention that he’s black because he knew that the men didn’t let him play cards for that reason. Crooks knew he wasn’t going to be treated like the other men because of his race so he lost hope.
Those examples of discrimination can make someone feel worthless or hopeless. No one deserves to be discriminated because of the way they were born or the was they look, everyone should be treated the same, race should never be a problem in this world. Referring back to Charlotte Bunch quote “Sexual, racial, gender violence and other forms of discrimination and violence in a culture cannot be eliminated without changing culture”. The only way we’re going to be able to change the discrimination in this world is by changing the way we think about other people and the way they’re different.
